


and it's called black magic.

by leothequeenn



Category: 11 Drunk Guys (Video Blogging RPF), ABOP (YouTube RPF), Pwnagemcgee (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Magic, Multi, and i said SURE, and she wanted a magic au, because why not, blue and i are really into this matty/nick thing, this is probably all confusing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 12:44:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5627116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leothequeenn/pseuds/leothequeenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matty honestly didn’t really know what to say, this was all on impulse and he didn’t like it, but he leaned up against the counter, slid his hood off and said, “mind telling all these people to stop staring at me?”<br/>Nick laughed and turned to the guy near the counter and said, “yeah, you heard him,”</p>
            </blockquote>





	and it's called black magic.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pantypantypantypantypantypantyhoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pantypantypantypantypantypantyhoes/gifts).



> ok so show-me-the-gay/ Panty(x6)hoes (omg) wanted me to write a magical au of nick/matty and i am all down for it, just dunno how well this is gonna go!! might as well try!!! ily blue!!

Whenever Matty came to a new village, he didn’t expect it to be so… weird. He was used to plenty of other villages, but this one was different in a way that he couldn’t even understand. It was too uptight, and too upset to do anything else but destroy other people’s lives. He didn’t know why he stayed, either, besides the fact that he was too tired to continue on and search for another village that was probably a hundred miles away.

He stepped into the barrier anyway, automatically noticing that the village was bigger than he expected, and that there was a girl, standing by the building closest to the barrier, with silver hair looking at him underneath her hood. Or, at least Matty thought she was, just from the way that her face was turned. It was like she wasn’t even trying to keep her eyes on something else. She was literally staring at him. He was used to that. His stupid aura was always stronger than what he wanted, so everywhere he would go, people would notice what he was quickly. The shortest time he spent in a village was probably ten minutes. Luckily, there wasn’t many people out yet, except for that girl and a few others.

Matty kept his eye on her as he walked, but soon turned and found his way to the center of the village. He stepped into the square, seeing a nicely sized well in the middle of it. Classic villages. Soon there will be threats of people shoving him in it, but he didn’t want to think about that right now.

He needed some place to sleep. To eat. If he was going to make it a few days there, he might as well need someone to help him. He had a few coins in his bag, enough to pay someone to let him sleep in their house, so that would be an idea. As he turned around though, he saw the same girl with the silver hair standing behind him, eyeing him carefully, and he nearly jumped due to how close she was -- and why didn’t he hear her? Matty was used to monsters following him around, sneaking up on him (he was honestly one of their favorite things to play with) but this girl was able to sneak up on him and scare the shit out of him. She seemed to be human, though, for lack of any better word and so it wasn’t as bad as it could be. Matty was already tired enough, he didn’t have time to fight any monsters.

Her blue eyes sparkled as she lifted her hood up to show her eyes, and Matty could see that she had a nose ring pierced in. She had strange, black markings on her arms, and he wondered if they stood for something else besides the village. If he could get a closer look, though, he would be able to tell what they were since they looked familiar, but she quickly put her hands down and the sleeves of her cloak covered her arms, her hands.

“What brings you here?” She asked, and her voice had a heavy accent in it, but Matty wasn’t sure which one it was or where she was from. She paused, before adding, “ _stranger_.”

“Just traveling,” Matty answered back quickly, with a shrug of his shoulders like he hadn’t been scared by this girl. “Just need somewhere to stay for now.” He might as well have asked this girl, since she was the one that came up to him, and she didn’t _seem_ like a bad person. She was just a little… Weird. Oh well. The girl with the silver hair nodded, and quickly turned on her heel and Matty had no choice but to follow her.

As soon as they got to the girl’s cottage that happened to be in the back, behind all the other cottages but still pretty close to the border line, Matty was pulled inside quickly by the girl as she closed the door. She then turned, and had her hand on her temple. She let out a sigh, and Matty wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he couldn’t because there was too much to look at in the house. He was able to look around and see berries and herbs spread out on another table, along with other medical supplies. She was a nurse.

“Hiding strays in this village is dangerous,” she muttered to herself sluggishly as she checked the windows and the boy was almost offended at being called a ‘stray’. Matty sighed though, sitting down at a chair that was next to a small, circular table. “If anyone knows that you’re in here, things will go very bad. You’ll go in the basement for now, and you could come up at night if you please.”

She turned to Matty and nodded her head at him. Matty didn’t know what that meant, but he hoped it was at least comfortable in the basement.

“Based on what I know that you are, you’ll have fun down there. Just try not to make a mess.” The girl ushered Matty out of his seat, and Matty had no choice but to do what she’s saying because even though he doesn’t completely trust her, he’d be able to get out of a basement anyway. It wouldn’t be that hard.

She opened up a trapdoor and Matty began walking down the steps that were provided. He looked around the room, and saw vials and leathery old books that were probably stuffed full of papers. There were cauldrons in the corner, by the vials with the strange liquids and Matty glanced back up to see the girl smiling down at him.

“I-I don’t make potions,” Matty informed her, but she just laughed.

“That’s what the books are for. Have fun.” The silver-haired girl grinned and he continued to walk down the stairs, seeing more equipment and things that regular people shouldn’t have in their home. Matty picked up a vial, noticing the label is scrawled out in ink, and it was smeared a bit, but he was still able to tell that it had frog eyes written on it. Matty stuck out his tongue, putting the vial back on the shelf. He looked around the room, his eyes adjusting to the dark-lit room, and saw a bed in the corner, one that was probably for him. Well, one that probably was for the last person in the basement, too, but it was more comforting to think that it was for him instead.

As he swatted away cobwebs and pulled it out a little bit further so it wasn’t too close to the wall, he sat down on it and sighed. He really was tired, but he was also hungry too, and so he hoped that the girl would feed him, because he really didn’t want to eat frog eyes. How would one even make a potion with frog eyes? What were they useful for?

Matty peered over and saw that same old leathery book, and decided that he would read it soon enough. He then looked over at the staircase, because how did that girl know what he was? Was it easier to tell than he thought it was? But why would she have these things in her house if she wasn’t like him?

He got up and grabbed the book, a certain warmth flooding through his veins. It reminded him of his old village, the one that he lived in the longest. They used the same leather material that she had binding the book. He blew the dust off of it, and engraved in the front was the title _Potions: All You Need To Know & Recipes. _He hated snooping, but he took the book back with him to his bed and sat down and opened it up. She did say that the book was there for a reason.

Inside, he saw _property of Zoё_ scrawled out in ink, and he figured that was what the girl’s name was. As he flipped through the pages, though, he realized that most of the potions in there were old, and no one had used them in a while. Matty couldn’t even remember his mother using them. Zoё couldn’t be the girl. He paused whenever he heard movement upstairs that was more than just the girl herself, and he closed the book and hid it underneath his pillow. Curiosity got the better of him and he headed over toward the stairs, trying to see if he could hear as much as he can without getting caught.

Of course, the stairs were squeaky and faulty, and so he had to step as lightly as he could (but that didn’t seem to help). He could hear the girl laughing about how her house is too squeaky, and he could tell that she was internally blaming him. Whoops.

The man in the house sounded like a boy in the village, who couldn’t possibly be as old as he probably was. He didn’t seem like a threat, but Matty could sense there were people waiting outside the house who were probably a threat. He guessed that people saw him walking around town and didn’t realize who he was, and probably called someone. They probably sensed that he was different, too. They always do. It was stupid just walking into town like that. That was Matty’s fault, after all.

Matty had the power to make people stop and stare at him, which was what they did in the town square. He couldn’t help that his aura was too strong, that was just something a witch had -- why he couldn’t sense it on the girl, he didn’t know. Maybe she wasn’t actually a witch, but a person who just brews potions. That would make sense. Her cottage was covered in medical supplies. Matty had met some of those people who would just supply potions and things for other people or wizards, but he hadn’t ever stayed in one of their houses.

He could hear the man moving up above him, suddenly stopping once he got over the trapdoor, and he could clearly understand what they were talking about. “You mean we have a witch living in our house?”

“He’s a warlock,”

“Same thing!” The guy said, before pausing. He moved away from the trapdoor only to lift the rug and the door up, and Matty was face to face with who he assumed was the girl’s date. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice sooner.” Matty wasn’t sure who said that first, but he and the girl managed to say it out loud. He didn’t know if the guy was against witchcraft (like everyone else seemed to fucking be) but if he was, he didn’t say anything about it. He just took the temper that Matty had and rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair.

“And you put him in the basement? If anyone steps over that trapdoor they’ll sense him, easily.” The brunette said, and the girl crossed her arms over her chest. There, Matty was able to see the black pictures and scribbles that decorated her arms and her chest (they probably decorated her whole body) and how they were similar to his. So then, what was she? A witch who was just better at hiding her aura? What was she?

“It isn’t my fault, I can’t control it,” Matty muttered, moving to sit on the floor instead of standing up on those creaking steps. “Do you think I actually want this?” He huffed and crossed his arms across his chest, and the other boy sighed, sitting down at the table. “Are there people outside?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Matty muttered and the other boy hesitated, before nodding his head after receiving a look from the girl. “I’ll be downstairs in my basement then,” and he could see the girl shake her head. “What? Weren’t you the one that said that you’d get in big trouble if you took strays in? Quite rude, though, like--”

“Shh, maybe if we just explain that--”

“That’s not going to work.” Again, Matty synced up his thoughts with someone else, but it happened to be the boy instead. There was a pounding sound on the door, and Matty sighed, completely used to this kind of behavior. Really, it didn’t take long for him to go from village to village, since the people there were always super against anything that Matty did. “I’m gonna go hide now, call me up for dinner whenever it’s safe.” He said past the screaming of what he assumed was the town’s police force (which he’s dealt with for many villages, he didn’t think that so many villages would have a ‘police’ force) and walked down into the basement to be as hopeless as he felt he was. There was no way to actually stop anyone without them kicking him out of the village. The best that he could do was sleep it out and get the strength to go away from this place tomorrow, until dinner time.

 

* * *

 

Tomorrow morning, though, it seemed like that was already an idea floating around in everyone’s heads. Matty resurfaced into the room to see the girl starting to cook away at something in the fire place, and the other boy was sitting at the table. Without turning around, the girl said, “oh, I knew you were coming up.” Matty nodded his head and went to go sit next to the boy at the table. The girl turned around and looked at the stranger with those eerily bright blue eyes, and said, “I was thinking that you wouldn’t want to stay here, with the danger of being caught.”

Matty paused, since she basically said what he was about to say, and the girl turned toward the other boy.

“Would that be alright if I led him two towns down? That one has a lot of witches and warlocks in it, he’ll basically blend in.” She asked, but it sounded like she wasn’t really asking for permission and the other guy had no choice but to nod his head. “Okay, let me finish cooking, and then we’ll be on our way. I have to make a stop off at Nick’s though on the way, refill some of the vials that are down in the basement. Did you have fun down there?”

He didn’t really mess with anything down there, just read the book cover-to-cover and made faces at some of the ingredients. “Yes,” he lied though, pretending he was sincere. Though, he did have fun reading the book, did that count? The girl had grinned and turned her back to continue stirring whatever she was making in the pot above the fire, and Matty turned to the other boy. “So, who are you people anyway?” He had wanted to say _what_ _are you people_ but he figured that would be rude.

“Oh. I’m Alex. This is Aquamarine.” Aquamarine seemed to glance over her shoulder at Alex with a bit of a scowl on her face, “and yes, she hates being called Aquamarine or Aqua, so everyone just calls her A.” Alex then explained that A hated being called Aquamarine since it was a pretty stupid stone and it was her grandmother who wanted her mother to call her that stone, since it was the color of her eyes and Maty could hear A groaning as the story continued. The more the story went on, the more Matty wanted to know exactly what she was. He glanced at her arms and shoulders, which were more exposed than before, and he saw that she had more markings on her arms than he did, so that would mean she was more skilled than he was. There was at least ten years’ worth more of ink on her arms than on his. That was probably why she was a lot better at hiding her aura than he was. He only learned what he was capable of doing whenever he was a teenager, but she probably got the hang of it around three years old.

Too unfair.

“I’m Matty,” he declared after a moment of silence, “and yes, I’m a warlock. But I think A already told you that.”

“Yeah, but trust me,” Alex said and Matty turned to him, playing with the sleeves of his cloak, “I would've noticed. I’m surprised more people hadn’t noticed.”

“Well, that might be because of me,” A continued on, humming as she stirred what Matty could now recognize as beef and carrot stew. “I was able to help protect him, but not for too long.”

Of course. Matty was really shit for picking these things up, wasn’t he? Was that why she was so sluggish once they got into the cottage? He had noticed that, but he didn’t feel any different whenever he was walking in the village. Alex let out a little groan at A’s confession, but honestly, Matty couldn’t be more thankful. And the reason why there were the guards out front was probably because A couldn’t use all the spell she wanted otherwise she would’ve passed out. So someone had to have noticed.

It fell silent around the table as A continued to hum. She finally stood after a while and gathered up three bowls, laddled the stew into the bowls and handed them out. Matty ate quietly while Alex and A continued to talk about how she had to go into Nick’s, and then into the next town which was closer to Nick’s than she thought it was. Matty didn’t really know who this Nick person was, but A knew him and he apparently sold stuff that could be used to make potions (and maybe potions too) and so maybe he would be okay.

After breakfast, A got ready to go out and Matty sat at the table, next to Alex. “So, this whole warlock thing, is it hard?” Alex asked, and Matty looked over at him because he did not expect him to be talking about that kind of stuff. The other boy shrugged, because it was fun at some parts, but getting thrown out of villages and threatened to be burned wasn’t.

“It’s not something I’m proud of, let’s say that.” Matty said as A walked into the room, and he stood, but A also opened up the basement trapdoor and headed downstairs. Matty glanced over at Alex, who imitated his actions from earlier and shrugged. He heard a few shuffling noises before she had finally resurfaced with a bag full of empty vials and the potions book that Matty had read.

She had handed him the book, and Matty arched an eyebrow. “Keep it,” she grinned and put her cloak on. “I figured you would’ve read it, and so you can keep it. It was my grandmother’s anyway.”

And A walked out the door after that, so Matty had no choice but to take it and follow her along.

 

* * *

 

Living on a farm with plenty of animals would be good for a nurse, but also whenever you’re trying to get away from a village to go to another one. A had hopped up onto a horse, and Matty followed suit and climbed up onto a spotted horse and followed after A. He had been on horses before, that was one of his favorite pastimes as a child (and because Mother would never allow him to do anything unless he learned how to ride a horse first -- crazy woman) and so it just came naturally to him.

Silence came over them as they made it out of the borders of their cottage and past the borders of the village, and Matty realized that it was cloudy out, so they had better make it quick. How he was supposed to get into two towns over before nightfall was crazy, especially if they have to stop off at “Nick’s” to refill some vials. But, it wasn’t like they were walking and it was definitely worth it, especially because A said that there were some witches and warlocks in the town they were heading for. So that was good. Maybe Matty wouldn’t have to leave the village then.

“So, you said something about witches in the town you’re taking me to,” Matty clarified and A nodded her head.

“Well, there’s also this town, that has Nick’s in it, but that’s got more secluded witches and there aren’t as many there as there is in the next town. But you can take your pick.” A said, and Matty chose the latter, because he’d rather be surrounded by a bunch of warlocks and witches rather than a few secluded ones. “Honestly, I’d want to move to this town we’re heading to now, just so I could have easy access to Nick’s, but Alex wouldn’t want to move so we wouldn’t raise suspicion.”

“Wow, your village is literally that strict, huh?” Matty muttered and A grinned, shrugging her shoulders a bit. “Although, I don’t blame him for not wanting to raise suspicion, it must be cool living in a village that doesn’t know you’re a witch and not having to move from town to town,” he continued, looking ahead at the trees and the small path the horses were walking on instead of at her face.

A sighed, keeping her eyes on Matty as their horses continued walking the path. “Yes, I understand where you are coming from. You’ll be able to master your aura, okay? Just keep trying and working on it.” She suggested and Matty huffed, falling quiet as time went on. It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried, because he really had, it was just he could never get the hang of it and it always took up too much energy anyway as A had demonstrated yesterday. He finally sighed and hid his arms in the sleeves of his cloak, looking straight ahead. A kept her eye on him.

 

* * *

 

As the two made it into town, A was able to meet up with a friend of hers who happened to understand what was going on and where she was going and even needed to go there as well. Nick’s was apparently a very popular place in the witchcraft community. Matty kept his distance away from the two, and kept quiet as the brunette talked to A, but as soon as the conversation paused and both glanced over at him, he knew that they were talking about him. Which, really kind of sucked. He hated not knowing what they were saying, but A and the one girl walked over to him and told him to dismount his horse (which he did) and to follow the brunette. She equally had a heavy accent and he wasn’t sure exactly where she was from, but she was nice enough to let his and A’s horses to stay in her field while the three went to Nick’s. That was where he was assuming he was going anyway.

He followed after the new girl and A obediently, avoiding the looks from passing villagers. He wondered how much of them knew who he was or were the two girls protecting him? A did say that the village was more strict and that the witches were more secluded than the next village over, and so he wondered if he was going to get in trouble. Was the brunette even a witch? Matty adjusted his glasses and kept walking with his head down to avoid looking at people.

They turned onto the square of the town before slipping into a brick-covered building. The whole place seemed normal, like it was just a pub or something and Matty almost asked for a drink until A grabbed his arm. The brunette leading them had stopped and told something to the bartender (who was probably the owner) that was currently wiping down the counters before turning a corner and walked into the kitchen area of the pub. There was something weird about that bartender, but he wasn’t exactly a threat and so Matty didn’t pay attention to him. There was still something weird about him, though.

There was a door that was secluded off to the side, and within a matter of seconds, it was opened due to the brunette muttering out some words that Matty recognized to be a spell.

So, where were they going? Were they going to a black market? Oh, that wasn’t where he thought they were going, but then again, it technically had to be a black market since where were they going to find all those special herbs and frog eyes that A needed? Whatever. He’ll just stay up there while the two girls go down and collect whatever they need. Why didn’t he think that it was going to be a black market?

A started to walk down the stairs toward the dark chamber where he didn’t know what was held in it, and the brunette looked at him expectantly. After a moment, she said, “well? Are you going down there?”

Matty wanted to shake his head no, but the way that the brown-eyed girl looked at him showed that she didn’t really care, he was going down there anyway. After a moment of contemplating whether or not to listen, Matty nodded his head and walked down the stairs, pausing to have his eyes adjust to the dark. He felt the presence of the brunette closing the door behind her as she walked behind him. He heard the girl behind him yawn, meaning that they probably stopped covering up his aura since they didn’t want to pass out. Understandable. He just hoped that everyone down there was okay with two powerful witches and a warlock who couldn’t even control his strong aura.

Shit.

As soon as Matty made his way into the room that looked like a store mixed with the pub from upstairs (literally, it had a guy behind the counter and everything) everyone had stopped and stared at him. Him specifically. He guessed his aura was stronger than he thought. He was used to this, just these random people staring at him and eating while they looked. The guy behind the counter had fluffy black hair and black rimmed glasses, and he was definitely looking at him. He didn’t even try and make it discreet. He was just looking at him.

A rolled her eyes and started to look at the shelves and Matty had turned to see that the brunette that was just behind him wasn’t anymore. Where she went, he had no idea but he was glad he didn’t have her glaring at him from behind his back.

He wished that he could just have the other people stop staring at him and continue what they were doing, but it didn’t seem like that was an option until he pulled on his hood more and walked over to A. “They’re staring at me,” he muttered to her and she sighed.

“They’ll stop eventually. Do you remember how many fish eyes I had at home?”

Matty paused, noticing how she was more concerned about the stupid fish eyes than him. What use are fish eyes good for, anyway? “A, come on, this is serious, how do I get them to stop looking at me?”

“Cover up your aura yourself. Sure, you’ll still have Nick’s attention but that’s because a new witch like you doesn’t normally come in here; it’s more of the older, experienced witches and underground clients that come in here. I would've taken you to Luke's but he doesn't sell ingredients and potions. Cover up your aura and they’ll stop sooner. Did I have at least seven? I need at least seven.” A continued on, glancing at the prices of the little jars that were on the shelves. Matty huffed and crossed his arms, because literally the last time he tried, fire sprouted from his hands. He was pretty sure that Nick wouldn’t like his shop to be burned down.

“Can’t you do it?” He whispered and A looked at him with icy eyes. “Okay, well how are you covering up your aura so well?”

“Your own aura is easy to cover up,” A said, and was almost interrupted by Matty rolling his eyes and muttering _well tell that to my aura_ , and continued with, “but someone's aura? Exhausting. Maybe your aura is hard to cover up because of your attitude.”

Matty arched an eyebrow over at her, and she smiled while apologizing. He played with the sleeves of his cloak before deciding to fucking talk to the guy behind the counter who kept looking at him out of the corner of his eye. After a moment, he said, “...also, you only had three frog eyes in the jar,” before walking up to the counter, pretending not to hear A shout out that she knew she didn’t have enough frog eyes for the recipe and he _also_ pretended not to see A making an exciting, _embarrassing_ scene.

The guy behind the counter, who he actually assumed to be Nick, kept also pretending not to notice Matty coming up to him. Matty honestly didn’t really know what to say, this was all on impulse and he didn’t like it, but he leaned up against the counter, slid his hood off and said, “mind telling all these people to stop staring at me?”

Nick laughed and turned to the guy near the counter and said, “yeah, you heard him,” before turning his attention back to Matty. He wasn’t sure how well the guy would listen, but that guy turned to his buddy and told him what Nick said. Apparently, Nick was popular around the place, but that only made sense because he owned the potion black market. Probably. Matty still wasn’t sure what he did. “So, what can I do for you?”

“Uh, I’m not -- A wanted to stop off here before we go to the next village over.” Matty spat out after a moment of pure silence, because how could he say that he’s a witch that barely knows how to brew a potion? Wasn’t that something that he was supposed to learn? He wasn’t the best warlock, anyway.

“You’re going to the next village?” Nick asked and there was a bit of a weird tone in his voice, but Matty nodded.

“Yeah, because obviously I can’t control my aura very well. As you can tell.” He said and Nick laughed, and he suddenly felt lighter because that was a nice laugh. He hadn’t heard a laugh like that in a while. “I would try and do that, but I don’t think that you’d like your market to be burned down.”

“It’s really that bad?” Nick asked and Matty nodded his head, looking at his hands instead of at the other boy. “I don’t even know how it’s that bad. There might be a potion somewhere.” Nick said and ducked underneath his counter, and Matty tried his hardest not to look.

Of course, that didn’t work, and he looked over to see Nick looking through bottles and vials of funky colored potions. “H-Hey, really, don’t worry about it, I’ll get the hang of it soon.” Matty assured him and Nick looked up to see the other boy leaning over the counter.

The warlock noticed that the other boy gave him a grin, and whenever he stood, they were closer to each other than Matty personally wanted to be, but the only thing he did to widen the space between them was move back a bit. He still had his elbows on the counters, and was still looking at Nick. Nick was also looking at him, and Matty wanted to hide.

However, the hiding feeling went away just as Nick said, “I just don’t understand how someone could have that strong of an aura and not be killed.”

Yeah, neither could he.

Matty stared at him blankly before flatly saying, “thanks. I’ve been threatened, so that’s close enough, isn’t it?”

“And you wanted me to wait on finding a potion?” Nick asked and Matty paused, looking at him because he was right. He didn’t want to waste any of the guy’s time, but how was he supposed to go from this village to the next one without the help of A? What time was it anyway? Would they even have time to make it to the next village? It was nearing noon. He knew that much. But that didn’t mean that they could make it, if A kept looking around for ingredients for potions and the brunette that they came here with wasn’t to be seen.

“I didn’t want to cause you any trouble.” Matty admitted and the guy behind the counter laughed. Again. But it was a good laugh, and he was cute, so it evened out.

“Please, I would’ve found it eventually. It would’ve been no problem at all, anyway.” Nick said with a smile and the other wondered how many times he had to say that in a day, in a week or a month, maybe. “I may not know how all this _witchcraft_ stuff works,” he said, gesturing to all of him, and Matty was almost as offended as he was whenever A said ‘strays’, “but I would’ve found the potion to help ya out and I would’ve given it to you for a discount, too.”

Matty, deciding on not focusing on the whole _witchcraft_ gesture and instead to focus on the discount, asked him what the discount was for and why he’d get it.

“Well, because you’re cute, duh.” Nick grinned and Matty stared at him, eyes widening because he really didn’t expect he would _say_ that. Let alone think it.

“...Are you hitting on me?”

“Was that too lame? I’m sorry,”

Matty shook his head, because he didn’t think that he would be called cute but he certainly didn’t dislike it. “No, it wasn’t lame, no,” he said. What else was he supposed to say? “But if you think I'm cute, then I will definitely have to take that discount. Because, you're cute too,” he said, and he hoped he didn't sound as embarrassed as he was.

Nick laughed, and Matty glanced around the room. Less and less people were watching him, which he was grateful for, but the whole mood in the place was inviting. Like he didn’t want to leave. Or maybe it was just Nick. He turned to look back at the black-haired boy, but he was gone, either ducked behind the counter or in the back, searching for a (probably) yucky-tasting potion to help with his aura and covering it up. Was he willing to take the discount? No, but he was complimented and so why not take it?

Matty looked over his shoulder to try and find A, but the brunette that he had met earlier walked up to him and arched an eyebrow. “Where is A?” she asked, looking around her as she talked. “It’s like I can’t leave her anywhere, because then she just goes everywhere.”

“Sounds familiar,” Matty mumbled accidentally underneath his breath and the brunette girl narrowed her eyes. “Seriously, I don’t even know your name but I thought you would at least show me around and tell me where I’m going.”

“Well, I had to talk to Alex, and you found your way around.” Alex? Wasn’t that the guy that was back in A’s town? There was no way this tiny girl could make it to that town and back in a span of a half-hour. “And my name’s Grace, by the way.”

Matty grinned and nodded his head. “I’m Matty. If you didn’t know that, already. Though I’m sure you already knew that. I’m just waiting because I got a discount to help with my aura.” Grace seemed almost impressed by the discount, and she arched an eyebrow. “Is… Is that not a normal thing?”

“From Luke? Yes. From Nick? Oh, boy, no… He doesn’t really like discounts, since the underground clients that he gives the potions to always try and negotiate them. He just barely gives out discounts.” Grace grinned. “He must really like you.” She continued and Matty shook his head, tapping his fingers on the counter top. Whatever, he thought, he’ll just take the discount and go with it. He needed to control his aura anyway, but the way that Grace said that made him a bit uneasy.

“Well, I guess he likes me enough then.” Matty mumbled underneath his breath as Nick walked out from the back. He could tell that Grace was a regular that came in, because the other guy behind the counter started talking to her and making jokes like they were best friends. They probably were. Nick had then turned to him and had told him the price with the added discount onto it and Matty ended up only paying half of what he should’ve paid. Matty moved to allow her to set her vials down on the counter, and Nick grinned, saying the price as she dug around in her purse. After a moment of hearing the numbers, Grace clicked her tongue and looked up at him.

“So you give him half off and not me? What kind of society are we living in now, huh?” Grace teased him, tossing the coins down on the table. Nick snickered, giving her a tiny shrug as if he were teasing her back. Matty sat there awkwardly as the two others exchanged more teasing and words, before Grace nodded her head at the warlock and walked off.

It was a bit quiet for a moment before Nick mumbled something like, “are you going to try it?” and Matty had to arch his eyebrow for him to explain more. “The potion.”

Oh. Duh. The potion. In his hand. Right. “Oh, yeah.”

“All it takes is just one sip.” Nick said and grinned, and Matty looked around before popping off the cap and taking a swig. Immediately, he almost choked on the stuff and how bad it tasted -- it was seriously the worst thing that he’s ever tasted in his life. He managed to get it down, but then coughed a bit, and looked up at Nick.

“The fuck’s in that?!” Matty yelled out, louder than he intended but the thing tasted _nasty_. As Nick started laughing and saying random ingredients, the warlock pushed the bottle away from his bag. “That was literally disgusting.”

“But it helped!” Nick grinned at him and Matty shivered, sticking his tongue out at the bottle. “I mean, I never said it was going to be good tasting! But it worked, so that’s all that matters, right?”

Matty forced himself to nod his head, because while his aura was saved, his tastebuds weren’t. Nick seemed to understand his thought process because he quickly grabbed a vial and handed it to him. The other boy didn’t want to trust it, but he grabbed it and drank a sip, noticing the nice taste of vanilla that seemed to block out the nasty taste in his mouth.

“That better?” The guy behind the counter asked and Matty nodded his head because it was so much better than that first drink. He wondered what the new drink was, but he didn’t question it because Nick didn’t charge him and so he was thankful for that. There were a few giggles exchanged before a moment of silence; Nick sighed and asked, “so, you’re going to the next village over?” Matty nodded his head but there was something in Nick’s voice that told him that wasn’t really a good idea.

“Why?”

“Just thinking that it might be easier for you to stay in this village and get more of those nasty potions to hide your aura instead of having to travel here every time you run out.” Nick answered back nonchalantly, and Matty tried to understand where he was coming from. It _would_ be easier for him to just stay there, and so he wouldn’t have to travel back and forth between the two. Although, who was Luke? Did he work at the place or in a new place, in the next town? He could get it from there, but he wasn’t even sure who Luke was, all he knew was that Grace had vaguely mentioned him whenever talking about discounts. Honestly, he was actually starting to consider just staying in town so that A wouldn’t have to lead him to the next village and he could just stay there and not have to leave.

He realized he hadn’t said anything before A finally reappeared and he didn’t know he could actually resent someone that much for stepping in, even if there was silence between them.

Wait, what? What was he even talking about anyway? Why was he resenting A? She's the one that brought him there. It wasn't like they were having a moment, either. Matty sighed to calm down and A placed her refilled vials on the counter, grinning at Nick before glancing over at Matty. “So, it seems that you took a swig of the potion to help your aura, hm?” A asked, and he ducked his head.

“Yeah, and he almost coughed it up,” Nick continued on, saying the price of how much it would be for the refills and A laughed.

“I don’t blame him, that potion is terrible. I remember having to use it. I can still taste it in my mouth.” A said as she paid, putting the vials back in her bag. She then turned toward Matty and asked, “are you ready to go?” He almost didn’t even know what she was talking about whenever she said that, and Matty arched an eyebrow, waiting for her to clarify. “To the next village?”

“Um,” Matty stuttered, shaking his head. A looked at him wearily, before looking at Nick and the warlock wondered if she had caught on. He didn’t necessarily want to stay because of _Nick_ , but because of the easy access to the potion to help his aura while he started to master it. That was all. Honestly.

Grace walked up to them, and A continued to look at Nick. It was interesting to see how the boy in the glasses looked underneath her gaze. Grace just simply said, “are you ready to leave?” and A shook her head.

“Matty said ‘um’ and trailed off whenever I asked him about it, so I’m not sure yet.” A answered back and there was Grace, looking at Matty with her brown eyes. “Though I think he wants to stay here.”

“Wasn’t the plan to take you to the next village?” Grace asked, and Matty glanced over at Nick, getting ready to explain to her that it would be easier for him to stay, with the potions and all whenever she cut in with, “or, you could… Stay here?” She then turned to Nick, glancing at him and keeping her sharp, brown eyes on him. It was then _definitely_ interesting to see how he was underneath both girls’ glares. “I’m sure that Nick would take care of you.”

At that both boys let out a squeak, and Matty had to finally, _finally_ clarify that he was staying for the easier access of the potions while he works on his aura. Both girls seemed to ignore that fact and they just nodded their heads as if he was just telling a lie. As if he had time to be telling a lie. Nick’s idea was just smarter than what he expected it to be, only because he didn’t think of it himself.

“Yeah, honest.” Nick chimed in, and Grace’s eyes went to Matty’s. “We just thought it would be better than just him going from the next town over to here every time he runs out of the potion.” Matty wasn’t about to say that Nick was the one that thought about that, and so he just nodded his head instead. It was really him that thought about that, though, and why Nick thought about the well-being of him, Matty wasn’t sure, but he appreciated it at lot more than he would admit out loud. Well, there was a lot about Nick that he appreciated but wouldn’t admit out loud.

“And plus, A, you don’t have to drag me to the next town,” Matty compromised. “I could have Nick show me around town and you could get back to Alex. Which, reminds me, how did _you_ ,” he said, turning to Grace, “manage to go talk to him and come back in like, twenty minutes?”

Grace blinked after a moment, and shook her head and finally realized what he was asking. “No, no, the Alex that’s in A’s town, he’s with A. I didn’t go talk to _him_. There’s another Alex here.” She turned to gesture to someone next to her, but paused whenever he wasn’t there. “Wherever he may be.”

“Oh.” _Duh_. “That makes sense. But yeah, it saves A the time.” Matty continued on, like that whole Alex thing didn’t affect him. He should’ve known that there could be another Alex. God damn. A and Grace both looked like they were contemplating this, but he again reminded them that Nick could show him around and that he’d be fine, he was currently under the spell of the potion anyway. He could deal with this secluded town and its more secluded population of witches. He’ll be fine on his own, and he had Nick with him. A gave a look to Grace before nodding her head toward Matty, the ultimate permission he could’ve ever received and he was just glad that she didn’t question anything else.

A shocked him by pulling him into a hug and in his ear, she whispered, “be safe. Keep the book. Visit when you can,” before she pushed herself away like she hadn’t even said anything. Matty had honestly forgot the book, but he was actually really glad that he got to keep it, even if he had already read it last night. Still, it was a cool gift for her to let him keep, and so he nodded his head in response to her, and she turned and walked off without another word. Grace grinned at him, since it was her town that he was staying in too. She then grinned at Nick before walking off, disappearing into the crowded place.

Matty was left alone with Nick once again, and it was a good feeling that he didn’t notice before. Weird. “Well, that means you have to show me around now.”

Nick laughed. “Guess so.”

 

* * *

 

Once Nick was able to get everyone out of the pub/store (seriously, which one was it? Was it both?) and close up the place for good, he led him upstairs so he could show him the town. The nasty potion was able to last him a while, but once it started to wear off, Nick told him to take another swig and luckily, the boy had brought the vanilla-tasting potion too. Otherwise he wouldn’t have drank the original potion. How could something taste that bad? As they made it out of the original pub that was on top of Nick’s, the boy had said something to the bartender that Grace had talked to earlier.

Matty turned to Nick and arched an eyebrow, and the other boy just shook his head. “Nothin, I was just telling him that I was leaving and to not invite anyone down into the restaurant.”

“So, he guards it?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Nick responded, and Matty glanced around before focusing back on him.

“Doesn’t he need to sleep?” He asked, and as soon as he said it, he knew he shouldn’t have. He knew there was something off about him, maybe he didn’t need to sleep. Maybe he didn’t even need to blink. Did he blink? He couldn’t remember.

Nick grinned though, and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “Well, he doesn’t need to sleep. He isn’t human, so.” He said and _wow_ , Matty really should’ve seen that one coming. “He’s more like, some weird lizard thing, I’m not quite sure how he makes himself look human but it’s awesome.” Nick grinned and the warlock nodded his head in lack of anything better to do. He knew something had been off about the bartender but he didn’t think too much about it because he wasn’t a threat. He also didn’t know that he wasn’t _human_. But, whatever.

There was a bit of silence between the two of them as they walked before Nick kind of brushed his hand up against Matty’s, pointed at a building with his other hand and said, “that’s Luke’s. Well, underneath the restaurant is Luke’s. He does more of other witch-y type stuff, while I make potions and sell them and whatnot.”

“Is that why Luke hands out so many discounts while you’re the less negotiable one?” Matty asked, and Nick looked at him like he didn’t know that he knew that. “Grace told me that it was weird how you gave me a discount because you never give out discounts…” Nick let out a nervous laugh, and shrugged his shoulders. Matty found that to be endearing. “And I mean, you told me you gave me the discount because I was cute.”

“And that still stands. But I hate whenever people come in, expecting a discount because so many people do it. And Luke gives out discounts because it’s more of children and their parents that come in and buy cloaks and spell books. And because he’s too damn nice.” Nick laughed a bit at that and Matty tried to resist rolling his eyes, but he didn’t do so well.

“And you’re telling me that you’re not so nice? I don’t believe that for a second.” Matty gave a pointed look toward the boy in the glasses and he couldn’t help but smile whenever Nick continued to laugh. Literally, if anyone there wasn’t nice it was probably him, if he had to be honest. “Whatever, you’re nice, and you gave me a discount so, there.” Matty snickered and looked around, since it was actually a bit dark out. He hadn’t realized just how much time he had spent in there, eating food and sipping on the potion to help his aura out. He had spent a lot of time with Nick, and he didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. For one thing, though, he found out that Nick laughs at a lot of his own jokes, so maybe it was a good thing.

“So, where are you going to sleep at, then?” Nick asked and there was a tone in his voice that was almost like he was wanting him to sleep with him, but Matty ignored that because maybe he was just being nice. It was Nick they were talking about, anyway. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I could sleep in your house,” Matty said, obviously not doing such a good job at hiding the fact that he picked up on Nick’s real intentions and was talking about them. “Then you could show me around tomorrow morning?”

Nick grinned at him, and told him that yes, he’d have to show him around tomorrow morning since they didn’t get to do much tonight. “My house is this way,” he said and started to walk off, and Matty grabbed onto his hand just so he didn’t lose him, since the moon was already showing, and in an instant he felt sparks shoot up his spine.

Nick seemed to realize that, since he probably felt it too, but if he did, he didn’t say anything about it. They just walked to Nick’s home, his own home, hand in hand and maybe everything was going to be fine.

**Author's Note:**

> 17 PAGES OF THIS this is crazy and probably all over the place so im gonna make myself some mac and cheese now 
> 
> ily blue ♥


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